Household electricity tariffs to increase 4.1% in 1Q 2024, gas by 3.3%
A view of a public housing block in Singapore.
SINGAPORE — Electricity tariffs for households are set to increase by 4.1 per cent for the first quarter of 2024, utilities provider SP Group said in a press statement on Friday (Dec 29).
The hike of 1.19 cents per kilowatt-hour (kwh) in the January to March quarter will see tariffs rise from 28.70 cents per kWh to 29.89 cents.
After accounting for the 9 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) that will kick in from Jan 1, the tariff will be 32.58 cents per kWh.
SP Group said that the increase is due to higher energy costs compared with the past quarter.
Concurrently, gas tariffs are also set to increase by 3.3 per cent for the same period, City Energy said in a separate statement.
Households will pay 0.73 cents per kWh more, from 22.42 cents per kWh to 23.15 cents. With GST, the tariff will be 25.23 cents per kWh.
This marks the third consecutive quarterly increase in electricity and gas tariffs.
Electricity tariffs went up by an average of 3.7 per cent in the last quarter of this year and by some 1.2 per cent in the third quarter.
Gas tariffs rose by 2.3 per cent in the October to December quarter after rising 1.1 per cent the previous quarter.
This was preceded by three consecutive quarterly decreases in electricity and gas tariffs due to lower energy costs.
Both SP Group and City Energy said that they review tariffs every quarter based on guidelines set by Energy Market Authority, the electricity and gas industry regulator.
To cushion the impact of the increasing carbon tax and water price, eligible households will receive double their regular U-Save rebates, and an extra S$20 a quarter of U-Save from January 2024, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement on Friday.
This S$20 a quarter was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong on Sept 28 as part of a S$1.1 billion support package for cost-of-living relief.
MOF added: "These rebates are part of the permanent GST Voucher scheme and the Assurance Package, to help defray GST and provide cost-of-living support for lower- to middle-income households."
The added S$20 a quarter of U-Save will be provided every quarter from January 2024 to December 2025. This means an extra S$160 over the two years.
The rebates are disbursed in April, July, October and January each year. The January payment will be the fourth quarterly disbursement for the 2023 financial year.
On average, the U-Save provided in the 2023 financial year amounts to about eight to 10 months of utility bills for households living in one- and two-room public flats, and about four to six months of utility bills for households living in three- and four-room public flats.
For Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC), eligible households will also receive an extra one-off 0.5 month of rebate in January 2024. This is also part of the support package announced on Sept 28, MOF said.
Eligible households do not need to take any action to benefit from the U-Save and S&CC rebates.
The U-Save rebates will be credited directly into households’ utilities accounts with SP Services, while the S&CC rebates will be credited directly into households’ S&CC accounts with their respective town councils.
